Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music will host Meredith Martin and Carli Sasser in their senior voice recital Friday, March 14. The recital will be held in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall at 11 a.m. and is free and open to the public.

“I am really excited about this performance that I’ve been working toward for four years,” Sasser said. “It’s involved lots of hours of practice and hard work and I am so ready for it to be here.”

“Carli and I have been really good friends since we came to OBU,” Martin explained. “Our moms knew each other and even sang together, so this is a special experience for the two of us.”

Martin is a senior choral music education major from Garland, Texas. She won 3rd place in the 2014 Shambarger Competition, is a National Association of Teachers of Singing finalist, serves as vice president of Ouachita Singers and also is in the Ouachita Concert Choir. Martin is a student of Dr. Margaret Garrett, assistant professor of music.

Martin’s solo performances will include “Alleluia” from Antonio Vivaldi’s O Qui Coeli Terraeque Serenitas, “Ah! non credea mirarti” from Vincenzo Bellini’s La Sonnambula, “Verschwiegene Liebe” and “Elfenlied” by Hugo Wolf, “Cacile” by Richard Strauss, “The Year’s at the Spring” and “Ah! Love But a Day” by H.H.A. Beach and “I Shall Not Live in Vain” by Jake Heggie.

Sasser is a senior choral music education from Hamburg, Ark. She was a 2013 Tiger Tunes hostess, first runner-up on the 2013 Ouachita Homecoming Court, served on the Miss OBU court of honor in 2013 and 2014 and is currently the president of Ouachita Singers. Sasser is also a student of Dr. Margaret Garrett.

Sasser’s solo performances will include “If Music Be the Food of Love” by Henry Purcell, “Suleika I” by Franz Schubert, “Ruhe, meine Seele!” by Richard Strauss, “Donde Lieta” from Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme, “By the River” from Maury Yeston’s December Songs and “Late Last Night” and “Heart, We Will Forget Him” by Ricky Ian Gordon.

Martin and Sasser will end the recital together with the duets “Puisqu’ici-bas Toute Ame” and “Tarentelle” by Gabriel Fauré. Phyllis Walker will be the accompanist for the recital.

For more information, contact OBU’s School of Fine Arts at (870) 245-5129.

Ouachita Baptist University’s School of Fine Arts will present the OBU Percussion Ensemble in concert featuring a special guest appearance by acclaimed percussionist Dr. Scott Herring on March 18. The recital, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 7:30 p.m. in McBeth Recital Hall.

Herring serves as professor of percussion at the University of South Carolina as well as director of the USC Percussion Ensemble and Palmetto Pans Steel Band. Herring earned a Bachelor of Music degree from East Carolina University and a master’s degree and Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University. He has performed all around the world in places such as China England, France, Germany and Spain and is often featured as a guest artist with other university percussion ensembles across the U.S. Herring currently performs with the RoseWind Duo and the Shiraz Percussion Trio.

Ensemble director Dr. Ryan Lewis, OBU assistant professor of music, noted that each of the pieces in the concert “has a place in my heart and an important purpose for my students.”

The concert will begin with Baljinder Sekhon’s “We Are the Weapons,” which Lewis describes as a piece that “juxtaposes both militaristic music portraying the sound of guns and violence and peaceful music performed on keyboard percussion instruments.”

Three of Elliot Cole’s “Postludes for Bowed Vibraphone” will be performed throughout the concert, which is considered one of the new classics of percussion chamber music. The vibraphone creates “a haunting, beautiful sound similar to a glass harmonica,” Lewis noted.

The concert will continue with sophomore music education major Aaron Breeding performing George Hamilton Green’s “Log Cabin Blues” with a marimba quartet.

The Percussion Ensemble’s final selection will be Ney Rosauro’s “Brazilian Myths” for percussion quartet. The piece “portrays five Brazilian mythological personalities” and is a “colorful, entertaining, beautiful, scary wonderful piece to rehearse and perform,” Lewis said.

Lewis and Herring then will perform a new marimba duet titled “All Systems Go” by Jeffery Dennis Smith. Herring will then conclude the program with a solo, “Tiger Dance.”

Members of the Ouachita Percussion ensemble include: Aaron Breeding, a sophomore instrumental music education major from Springdale, Ark.; Robert Desoto, a freshman mass communications major from Sheridan, Ark.; Drew Ervin, a senior music major from Springdale, Ark.; Carter Harlan, a junior instrumental music education major from Arkadelphia, Ark.; Chris Hogan, a senior instrumental music education major from Bartlesville, Okla.; Van O’Rorke, a freshman instrumental music education major from Hot Springs, Ark.; Elva Rosas, a junior business administration and finance major from Arkadelphia, Ark.; Abby Tipps, a freshman instrumental music education major from Sulphur Springs, Texas; Zack Willis, a freshman performance major from Redfield, Ark.; and Weston Wills, a freshman instrumental music education major from Norphlet, Ark.

Ouachita Baptist University senior Elizabeth Baker, a music performance major from Grapevine, Texas, will present her senior flute recital Thursday, March 20, at 7:30 p.m. The recital, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall.

“I’ve been working really hard toward this since last semester,” Baker said, “and I can’t wait to share this music with everyone.”

Baker has been named to Ouachita’s Dean’s and President’s Lists and has been involved in the following groups at OBU: Wind Ensemble, Flute Esemble, Tau Beta Sigma national honorary band sorority, International Club, Concert Band and Marching Band.

Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music will host Emma Patterson and Evan Rogers in their senior recitals on Friday, March 21, at 11 a.m. in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

“This recital gives me an opportunity to show what I have learned over the past four years, and to show my friends and family why I love music so much,” said Patterson, a choral music education major from Garland, Texas. She will present a vocal recital.

“I have been building a repertoire of songs since freshman year,” Patterson added. “My voice teacher and I selected songs I enjoyed singing the most and the songs that sounded best in my voice. I made sure to have a good mix of songs from different time periods and genres.”

Rogers, a senior church music major from Jacksonville, Ark., will present a euphonium recital. Rogers is a member of Kappa Kappa Psi national honorary band fraternity and the Ouachita Wind Ensemble.

“We selected songs that were classics of the instrumental world and some pieces in the vocal world,” said Rogers. “The euphonium is a ‘singing’ instrument, so vocal literature works well on it, too.”

“This recital is the culmination of my four years of study and a good chance to introduce a wide audience to the beauty the euphonium can produce,” Rogers added. “I’m an ambassador for my instrument in particular and for music in general.”

For more information, contact OBU’s School of Fine Arts at (870) 245-5129.